National Library acquires world’s earliest known kosher cookbook

The 1846 volume, believed to have been compiled by Lady Judith Montefiore, includes some of the earliest documented cheesecake recipes in Jewish culinary literature

The National Library of Israel has obtained a rare original copy of what is widely considered the first-ever kosher cookbook — an English-language volume published in 1846 featuring recipes, as well as household advice and beauty treatments.

It is believed to have been compiled by Lady Judith Montefiore, a British linguist and philanthropist, and the wife of famous financier Sir Moses Montefiore.

The book, titled “The Jewish Manual of Modern Cookery, With a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette,” was originally published anonymously under the byline “A Lady.”

Scholars later linked the work to Montefiore, one of the few Jewish women in Victorian England to hold the title “Lady,” after researchers identified similarities between the recipes and dishes known to have been served in the Montefiore household.

The acquisition came ahead of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and includes some of the earliest recorded cheesecake recipes in Jewish culinary literature, alongside a variety of dairy-based dishes heavy on butter and cream.

The cookbook also contains recipes such as “Palestine soup,” made with veal, chicken and Jerusalem artichokes, as well as advice on cosmetics and milk-based beauty baths that were popular among Europe’s upper classes at the time.

Dr. Chaim Neria, curator of the Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection at the National Library, said obtaining a physical copy of the book was significant because it marks the earliest known Jewish cookbook published in England.

“Its acquisition fits the library’s mission to collect, preserve and make accessible collections of knowledge, heritage and culture of the Jewish people, the State of Israel and the Land of Israel, and the legacy of the Montefiore family is woven into all of these,” he said.

Montefiore died in 1862 at the age of 78 and was buried in Ramsgate, England, near a synagogue established by her husband.